A bell tolls, a bass guitar moans, and Ozzy Osbourne sings. "What is this that stands before me?" the former archnemesis of John Cardinal O'Connor intones with chilling deliberation. Black Sabbath - three-quarters of them, anyway - are back to reprise the doom-ridden, Beelzebub-baiting classics from the '70s. Osbourne sounds in good voice initially, slicing through Tony Iommi's granite-hard guitar riffs and Geezer Butler's nuclear-strength bass. He even lays down some credible blues harp on "Wizard." But, as if to prove he isn't lip-synching, Osbourne struggles to nail some of the high notes in "War Pigs." No matter, Sabbath was never about sex appeal or perfection. They were dead-end working-class kids who had no use for the romanticism of the flower-power era, and instead peered into the abyss that awaits us all. The songs, which just happened to invent an entire genre of music, still sound magnificent, from "N.I.B." to "Iron Man." [Chicago Tribune]

Lollapalooza, the mother of indie U.S. festivals, is happening this weekend at Grant Park in Chicago. Friday (8/3) kicked things off with such bands Black Sabbath, Afghan Whigs, Passion Pit, The War on Drugs, Tame Impala, Metric, and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. If you're not in Chicago but would still like to have the Lollapalooza experience, just skip showering, turn off your A/C, crack open a beverage and watch the festival's livestream on YouTube.

Here are some more photos from the Sasquatch Music Festival which happened over Memorial Day Weekend out in Gorge, WA, truly one of the most awesome backdrops in all of festivaldom. These are from Sunday (May 27) which was another jam-packed line-up so we're breaking them up into two parts. Below we've got pics of Beirut, Wild Flag, M. Ward, The Head and the Heart, Here We Go Magic, We Are Augustines and more. Pictures of Friday (5/25) are here and Saturday (5/26) are here and here. And...more Sasquatch pictures to come.

It's also a film festival with both new and classic rock films/docs, including the world premiere of The Rise and Fall of The Clash, plus American Hardcore, Color Me Obsessed: A Film About The Replacements, The Dead Boys - Live at CBGB/OMFUG 1977, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Kurt Cobain About a Son, The Sacred Triangle: Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973 and more.

In addition, they've added a CMJ/SXSW-like music industry conference with panels/workshops concerning the music industry, independent artists, and a CBGB "Tales from the Club" panel each day. All conferences take place at the Sunshine Cinema and East Village Cinema. The festival also closes with the "distilled spirits fest" at Beekman Beer Garden on July 8.

There are variety of badges available too, from music and film showcase badges to one that get you into everything (or potentially at least...badges don't guarantee admission). The press release we got claims badges have been on sale since May 7 but this is the first we've heard about it. Regardless, early bird prices on music showcase badges is $69 and runs through May 31. It jumps to $79 if you buy before July 4 and walk-up badges once the fest starts are $89. Film fest badges are $99/$159/$219 for earlybird/regular/walk-up. You can also get a music conference badge which gains you entry to the showcases, workshops, and panels, and a music/film combo badge which gains you entry to all of that plus the film screenings. Full details on the vast array of CBGB Festival badge options are at their website. What this means to people who already bought tickets to individual shows already but want a badge too, we're not sure.

A list of all confirmed bands, films, conferences, and participating venues is below.

It's been over two years since The War on Drugs released their debut album, Wagonwheel Blues, via Secretly Canadian. And it's via that same label that we'll finally get another taste on October 26th which is the official release date of the band's 2nd album called Future Weather. Grab "Comin' Through", one of that record's eight tracks, for free above now. Cover art and full tracklist below.

Tonight (8/31), The War on Drugs follow up their appearance with Black Mountain at Knitting Factory last night, with a headlining show at the cozy Rock Shop. This time they share a bill with Light Pollution and Xylos.

More about last night's show later. In the meantime, here are some pics, with all tour dates and the new album's cover art and tracklist, below...

Record release shows are typically festive events, but the fanfare was rather minimal for Tuesday night's Here We Go Magicshow at the Music Hall of Williamsburg - with the possible exception of Luke Temple's festive red Hawaiian shirt.

When the first opener of the evening, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, unceremoniously walked on stage and started playing, the room was nearly empty, but since the show was piped down into the basement bar, people gradually began filtering upstairs as they realized that the show had begun. Despite the growing number of listeners, however, MBAR's energy level changed very little throughout his performance. His occasional stage banter (if you can call it that) seemed to be delivered, tight-lipped, through a smirk as if he didn't care whether he was intelligible or not.

Robinson often performs with a backing band, but for last night's performance (perhaps because he was a late addition to the bill), he was solo. With the exception of the final song, the majority of Robinson's set contained just a keyboard and pre-programmed beats. For his last song, Robinson juggled both the guitar and the keyboard, saying under his breath at the song's conclusion, "I guess I should have tuned my guitar before the song and not during it."

Hearing Robinson live is nothing like hearing his albums (his first was produced by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor, and his second, by TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone.) Take it or leave it (and some people will definitely leave it), Robinson is an intriguing musical enigma who already has something of a fabled past.

It's hard to tell if he takes himself too seriously or if he is overly cynical and sarcastically self-aware. He performed in one of the t-shirts he sold at the merch table, which says, in big black block letters, "MILES BENJAMIN ANTHONY ROBINSON IS DEAD," and he performed a cover of the Hall and Oates song "Rich Girl" midway through his set.

Next up was The War on Drugs, who put on an enjoyable enough set despite some minor feedback issues. With their rock and roll hair, jangly guitar riffs, soaring keyboard melodies, and fuzzed out lyrics, it's easy to get lost in the Philly three-piece's music. As with the first opener, the War on Drugs' vocals were largely indecipherable, but to be fair, that did not seem to be the focal point of their music. They jammed for a solid two minutes before singing at all at the top of their set.

Their other NYC show, April 3rd at Union Pool, will be opened by Sharon Van Etten, who travels for a week with the tour. After she departs, fragile, harmonizing trio Breathe Owl Breathe join Megafaun on the road.